The Typewriter DatabaseAnthony Mindling1928 Corona 4 Serial # 3M 070722013-05-17From the Virtual Typewriter Collection of Anthony Mindling: 1928 Corona 4 Serial # 3M 07072At some point I lost an auction for a red Olivetti Valentine. Fallout from that emotional trauma included a temporary fetish for red typewriters. It worked itself out before much financial damage was done, and this lovely machine is one of the results. But it not only looks good, it writes well also. Good thing, because one of the rules of my collection obsession, since I excuse it by making good use of my typers for family correspondence, is that keepers must be pleasant to use, else out they go, along with the duplicates.

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At some point I lost an auction for a red Olivetti Valentine. Fallout from that emotional trauma included a temporary fetish for red typewriters. It worked itself out before much financial damage was done, and this lovely machine is one of the results. But it not only looks good, it writes well also. Good thing, because one of the rules of my collection obsession, since I excuse it by making good use of my typers for family correspondence, is that keepers must be pleasant to use, else out they go, along with the duplicates.

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Anthony MindlingUsername: tmindling

Almost at the same instant that the idea occurred to me of how much fun it might be for my children (7) and grandchildren (13) to get letters - real letters in the mail - i went digging through the dusty nether regions of our storage area to pull out my beloved 1957 Olympia SM3 Portable and the old Royal 10 I'd rescued from a neighbor's garbage can in the 1960's. Refurbishing them triggered a typewriter obsession. Don't tell my wife, but i believe there are now about 20 of them.

I love their looks, their intricate and precise mechanisms, and dinking around in the workshop tuning them up and bringing them back to life. i also, unfortunately, love the thrill of the hunt on eBay. But all of them are put to use for correspondence and my new hobby of decorated art letters. And sometimes they even inspire a bit of poetry.